1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital recorder which is capable of digitally recording, reproducing and/or editing an audio signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method of recording, reproducing and editing an audio signal, a magnetic recording and reproducing technique is employed in which an analog audio signal is recorded on a magnetic tape, and the recorded signal is reproduced and edited. Since this prior art involves a recording and reproducing process for a signal in analog form, deterioration in sound quality is inevitable. In particular, the deterioration will be prominent when a once-recorded audio signal is dubbed.
Further, the use of the magnetic tape as a recording medium raises problems such that it takes much time to reach the target editing point, and edition requires that the target recorded portion of the magnetic tape be physically cut and pasted or be copied to somewhere else before the edition is executed actually.
The problem of the deterioration in sound quality can be overcome by employing a technical means that codes a signal into a digital form and records on a magnetic tape. However, there still remains a shortcoming concerning location of the starting point and the freedom of edition due to the use of a sequential-access type recording medium.
Recently, there has been proposed a solution to the conventional problems which uses a hard disk and a magneto-optical disk as a memory medium. For instance, refer to U.S. Ser. No. 07/690,710 filed on Apr. 24, 1991, inventor: Nobuo IIZUKA (the same inventor of the present invention) and U.S. Ser. No. 07/752,876 filed on Aug. 30, 1991, inventor: Tohru MIYAKE.
In reproducing audio data stored on an external memory medium such as the hard disk or the magneto-optical disk, it requires a little time to access and reproduce a given target portion stored on the external memory medium due to a delay of disk-accessing time. Therefore, an external memory device involving the hard disk or the magneto-optical disk invites another problem that it can not instantly respond to the instruction of reproduction, resulting in delayed start of the reproducing operation.